


Not Your Everyday Care Package

by Shaddyr



Series: It takes a Kitten... [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Feel-good, Fluff, Gen, Kittens, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-05
Updated: 2007-10-05
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7552582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaddyr/pseuds/Shaddyr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There's a package for you over here, sir. It was just sent from the Daedalus a few minutes ago. We were just about to call you..." he trailed off as McKay's eyes snapped over to the table. Everyone seated there was looking at him.</p><p>"A package?" he asked as he walked toward the group.</p><p>"Yes sir," answered the engineer. Sanduh, maybe? "It's, well, it's not exactly a standard package sir."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Your Everyday Care Package

**Author's Note:**

> Man, I just realized I never posted this. I think it was because I hadn't been watching the show for long and wasn't sure I knew the characters that well. I've edited it a little to tighten it up some and am posting it now, because who doesn't enjoy a little silly kitty fluff?

It was Arrival Day on Atlantis. The Daedalus had set down on the East Pier at 0800 hours, and as per usual, most of the expedition members were as hyper as children on Christmas morning. 

Arrival day meant real, earth-grown coffee flowed freely in the cafeteria, and there would be by-God real cream to put in it. Within hours, fresh baking had appeared, and there were rumours of steak and baked potatoes for dinner. Chocolate and other treats were in abundance, and the internal Lantean black market was already hopping as people started trading their newly acquired loot. New books and magazines, CDs, DVDs and video games were bartered for beer, porn, backrubs, the really good coffee, and the even better chocolate. The gate teams always made a point of sequestering away some of the cool stuff that could be used for barter on the 'flea-market' planets they'd found. All in all, it was SOP for the day fresh supplies arrived.

Unfortunately for McKay, Arrival day meant spending many hours in the main lab trying to get a handle on the new members of his staff. It was during these first critical hours on Atlantis he needed to impress upon them that his word was law in the labs, and that most of what they thought they knew was at best, rife with errors, and at worst, completely and utterly wrong.

"No, no, NO!" he barked at them, as he did with every fresh scrubbed, squeaky clean new bunch that stepped off the Daedalus, all secure in the knowledge of their brilliance. "Look, I understand that this is a difficult concept for your little minds to grasp, so let me try to break it down in words of less than three syllables. Almost everything that you think you know about the nature of quantum particles is *wrong* because it is all based on a flawed premise. To truly understand will require that you accept a massive paradigm shift."

He scanned the room, picked out the ones with mutinous glares and stared them down. "Now, pay attention and try to keep up while I explain. And for heaven's sake don't _touch_ anything, especially if you have the gene. If you don't know what you're doing, you could end up dead - or worse, blow up the lab. And then I'll have to bring you back to life just so I can kill you myself."

He absolutely _had_ to destroy their unshakable confidence in what they knew and make them willing to listen and learn. Any who wouldn't, or couldn't, would eventually end up going back to earth - too often, in a body bag. And as much as he might berate and belittle them, McKay knew these were the best and brightest minds that earth had to offer. He might not remember their names, but they were _his_ staff, and he really didn't want to lose any of them.

After a long day of beating the preconceived notions out of them, he was exhausted. The last of them had finally run out of questions and wandered off, shell shocked, several hours earlier. He'd been working with Radek on their duty roster ever since, assigning them all to existing projects according to their skills and specialties. 

"No, the other one," Radek said as he looked over the spreadsheet. "The tall one with brown hair."

McKay shook his head as he made the final assignment. "No, he'll be better on the sensor arrays," he said. "Dr. Broad-"

"Braid!" Radek correct.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes. "She's a better fit for the Puddle Jumper team. She has experience with the X302s."

Radek considered that as he walked back to his own laptop. "Yes, I read her last paper. She has a brilliant grasp of propulsion systems." 

"And the gene. With any luck, she won't be incurably stupid and get herself killed." McKay replied. He set his elbows on the lab bench and rested his head in his hands. 

"You know, retraining a bunch of resentful scientists to the point where they are no longer a danger to us all is not the job I signed up for. And no sooner do we get them under control, the SGC sends us a fresh batch of wet behind the ears scientists and it starts all over." he let out a groan. "I'm not cut out for teaching! I haven't done anything that could be classified purely as research for months!" 

Radek gave McKay a look from over the top of his glasses. "You could ask me to help with the baby scientists you know," he said pointedly, but McKay waved him off.

"I must teach them to fear me from day one," he said dismissively. "You're too nice." Radek made a rude gesture, but Mckay ignored him. "As CSO, it's my responsibility to make sure they don't blow up the city up because they're messing around with things they don't understand. It's not like we don't already have enough things in Pegasus trying to kill us, between life sucking space vampires, fascist warmongers and crazy people who worship either the Wraith or the Ancients." 

He stood up with a groan and stretched, the pain and popping in his back a painful reminder that he'd spent too many hours hunched over his laptop. He swiped a hand wearily over his face before checking the time. Huh. Only twenty-three hundred thirty. It felt a lot later. He spared a longing glance for the empty coffee pot in the corner of the lab.

"The newcomers have not yet learned they must never, ever, drink the lab coffee dry," Radek said, amusement evident in his voice.

"Tomorrow morning, they'll get that lesson first thing," he promised. In the meantime, he'd have to go to the cafeteria if he wanted some coffee. He gave Radek an absentminded wave and left the lab.

As he walked to the transporter, McKay grimaced over the backlog of work he knew was facing him in the morning. Productivity had tanked the last few days, as the anticipation of the Daedalus' arrival rendered most of his normally competent staff completely useless. Even Radek had been distracted and out of focus. The previous day, Rodney had spent more time than usual yelling at them all before giving up with a show of disgust. He'd kicked the whole lot of them out of the lab, telling them to come back when they were capable of coherent thought.

He stepped into the transporter alcove and set his destination for the cafeteria, then leaned tiredly against the wall. Though he'd never, ever admit it, watching them flit around the lab like butterflies on crack had amused him, and he'd felt positively indulgent when he'd tossed them out. He suspected a few might be on to him as he'd spotted several covert smiles when they made a break for the door, but he'd just continued to scowl and call them all names as they'd left. Couldn't have them thinking he had a soft spot for them, or they might try to take advantage of it.

A moment later, the doors opened, and he stepped out to find two of his staff waiting for the transporter. Choi and Albertson. Or Anderson, something like that. He gave them a nod as he moved out of the way. They glanced at each other as they stepped in, then gave him a pair of sly grins just as the doors snapped shut. He frowned and tried to recall if he'd recently said something particularly offensive to either of them that might earn payback in the form of a practical joke. At the moment, everything he'd yelled at his staff in the past week simply ran together in a big blur. He'd watch out- he knew that look, and it rarely boded well for the recipient.

McKay yawned as he walked into the cafeteria, the smell of fresh coffee drawing him in like a siren song. He made a direct line for the pot, pouring himself a cup and lifting it to his nose. He sniffed appreciatively and spent a moment inhaling the wonderful aroma before sipping the fragrant brew. 

Armed with his caffeine infusion, he glanced around the cafeteria. People were scattered here and there, nursing their own coffees or working on laptops while they ate a late night snack. In the center of the room, a group of civilians and off duty military gathered around a stack of large boxes, the contents spread out for display on the table before them. It looked like the traditional Arrival day activity of haggling and trading care package contents sent by family and friends.

McKay was certainly not jealous that he hadn't received a personal package of his own. Everything he'd requisitioned had arrived, from the scientific journals and new tablet PCs to his stash of Cadburys chocolate and Molson's Dry. He resolutely turned away from the flagrant display of goodies to make his way back to the lab.

"Excuse me, Dr. McKay?" The tentative query carried across the room, stopping him in his tracks. He turned toward the young engineer who was approaching him.

"Yes, what is it?" McKay tried not to snap at the man, but some of his irritation leaked through. 

The young man swallowed and took a deep breath, then continued. "There's a package for you over here, sir. It was just sent from the Daedalus a few minutes ago. We were just about to call you..." he trailed off as McKay's eyes snapped over to the table. Everyone seated there was looking at him.

"A package?" he asked as he walked toward the group.

"Yes sir," answered the engineer. Sanduh, maybe? "It's, well, it's not exactly a standard package sir."

McKay glanced at him sharply as they reached the table, then looked back down at the people gathered there. Their expressions ranged from edgy, to sly to positively joyful. It made McKay more than a little nervous.

"So?" he demanded. "Where is it?"

One of the linguists - Giovanni, if he recalled correctly - was sitting with her back toward him. She stood and tossed a grin over her shoulder. "Right here," she answered, then turned to face him. In her arms was a calico kitten, not more than 8 weeks old.

McKay gasped, and before he even realized what he was doing, he'd shoved his coffee cup into someone's hand and relieved the linguist of the tiny bundle of fluff. The kitten protested the sudden change in position with a tiny mewl, but he cuddled it - a quick check proved _it_ to be a _her_ \- up against his chest, stroking her tiny head and tummy and making comforting noises into her fur. With a minimum of fuss, she settled in and started purring.

He could feel the utterly idiotic grin splitting his face as he gazed down at the kitten in his arms. He was aware of the smiles all around him, and knew that news of his reduction to a blithering idiot upon being presented with a fluffy kitten would be all over Atlantis before he even got back to his lab, but strangely, he couldn't bring himself to care.

One of the people at the table was from the Daedalus crew, Corporal Biggs according to the name tag on his uniform. "Cleo, our ship's cat, just had kittens," he explained. "The Colonel isn't officially aware that we have a ship's cat, of course. Unofficially, the Colonel is known to be a cat person." There were snickers around the table before the crewman continued. 

"Unfortunately, when Cleo was taken to get her last check up, she got out for a bit. We didn't realize till after we broke earth orbit three months ago that she was expecting."

McKay's gaze fixed on the crewman. "There's more?" His voice absolutely did *not* go up with an interrogative squeak at the end of the question. He ignored the stifled giggles and smirks coming from the group.

"Yes sir, there are, but the others are already spoken for," the man apologized with a shrug. "This one was set aside for you by special request."

He opened his mouth to ask the next logical question, but the crewman held up a hand, cutting him off. "Don't even bother asking, sir. I'm not at liberty to say, and that is by a direct order. Even if you make my stay on Atlantis an unpleasant one, I can't tell you." The look on the crewman's face indicated that he was very much aware of exactly how unpleasant McKay was capable to making his stay in the city should he choose to be pissy about his refusal to tell.

McKay glowered at him, but his eyes were drawn back to the tiny fur ball he was holding, and the expression melted away, softening into a smile. He glanced back at the crewman one last time and tossed out a snort.

"Fine. Whatever. I'll get the bottom of this myself." He scritched the kitten under the chin. 

"So. Just the kitten? Any food? Litter box? Toys? Please tell me that whoever engineered this had the forethought-"

The linguist picked up a box on the table and presented it to McKay. It was full of assorted cat paraphernalia. Her expression was innocent. "Can I take this somewhere for you, Doctor?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her, and then without warning, laughter bubbled up from within him. He felt something inside his chest loosen, the constrictive net of stresses he'd been ensnared in falling away to reveal how very tightly he'd been wound. In all the time he'd been on Atlantis, he couldn't think of a single time he'd had a real, deep belly laugh. For just a moment, they all looked a little panicked, since no one had a clue what to do with a mirthful Rodney McKay; however laughter, being infectious, soon gripped them all. 

When he finally caught his breath and calmed, he had to chuckle at the reproachful look he was getting from the fuzzball for disturbing her nap. He petted her gently until she was settled and purring again, and then replied to the question.

"Yes. My lab please, if you don't mind." 

She nodded and secured the box under one arm, then snagged his coffee from the person he'd shoved it at. Milton. Or Miller. Something. He was going to have to start getting these people's names right. It would make it easier to track the things that were currently going on under his radar. 

He had his suspicions about who was ultimately responsible for making sure this kitten had ended up in his arms, and he felt a sudden, dizzying rush of warmth for his team. He'd actively cultivated his reputation as a tyrant in the labs, and he had no remorse over having reduced members of his staff to tears on more than one occasion. He pushed his people, especially when he believed they were capable, and was not the least bit surprised when they did the extraordinary. While most of them likely wanted to consign him to the deepest ring of hell at least once in a while, he got the impression that they mostly respected him. Mostly.

And they were trying to tell him that they _got_ it, really they did, and could he _please relax_ because he didn't have to carry the load alone.

He ran his fingers over the kitten in his arms as Giovanni accompanied him to the lab, and decided that maybe Radek and Miko could take the newcomers over to the secondary lab tomorrow. He 'd spend the day trying to reverse engineer that device they'd brought back for PX4-688 three months ago. He could probably trust Radek to make sure they didn't blow up the city for at least one day.


End file.
